GRAND ANCESTRAL BLOODLINES

Ryu’s expression remained placid for a moment, looking Solara up and down. He was sure that she was a beautiful woman. But right now, he couldn’t see anything but those eyes and that smile.

No, there was something else he could feel as well…

That battle intent.

A wild grin spread across Ryu’s face. His boredom vanished in a flash, and in that instant, it was as though a blazing fire had been lit within him.

“Is that so?”

He spoke just as Xalvador and Balthar’s blades had come upon him. He knew why they were able to work so seamlessly together now. There was a Divine Chain linking between the two of them, allowing their actions to flow smoothly between one another.

It was such a complex application of the Bloodline that Ryu hadn’t even known it was possible until now. This was the first time he had ever experienced such a thing.

Against others, he could perfect their methods even better than they could. Right now, he wasn’t even using his own Sword Saber Soul method; it was the Phoenix Princesses.

However, even more shocking than that, he had the Divine Chains within him. The ability, at least—though not truly the foundation—had long been copied by his Beyond Perfect Extreme Spiritual Foundation.

And yet, after it had been with him all this time, he had never once thought of such a method.

If it was the case that such a thing just wouldn’t be useful to him, maybe he could let it go. But just imagine if he used such a method with his Corpse Puppets?

Wouldn’t such a thing be far more effective than any Army Formation could ever hope to be?

It was an enormous game changer, and yet he had never thought of it.

It made his blood, or what was left of it, boil.

When Ryu reincarnated the first time, for a long while he ignored secondary professions and the use of his mind. He often got himself into trouble, refused to use his intelligence for anything other than quickly improving his cultivation, and was an all-around dullard.

He had done that on purpose.

He didn’t want to skate through life on his mind. Even when he gained his Dao, and he knew just how useful the Chaos half of it was, he rarely even used it because of the implications that came.

After spending his entire first lifetime hoping and praying for strength and power, and having nothing other than his mind to rely on… he just didn’t want to be that man anymore.

His truest goal was to reach the top of the cultivation world, and when he envisioned it as a child, he never imagined it would be about outsmarting everyone he came across.

Unfortunately… people were just too stupid in his views. Their minds weren’t nearly as flexible as his own, their ability to adapt, read, and shift and change in a situation was extremely limited to the point he had a hard time not looking at them like they were children.

This was supposed to be a battle to decide the pinnacle geniuses of Existence, and yet it was child’s play to him. The only chance they had was when he quite literally couldn’t match up to their talent.

Now that he could, the amount of added strength his intelligence and Dao Heart gave him made it so that in this sort of situation, they could hardly match up even when he was half dead.

It was mind-numbing.

Even though he had grown beyond the person he had been when his second life first began, he still had that yearning inside of him. The most fun he had had here other than his battle with Nightly was his battle for the Beast Title… but even then that was only because he had allowed his mind to be turned off.

In this situation, though… maybe he wouldn’t have to.

Seeing Solara, he felt that maybe for the first time, he was staring at someone no less intelligent than he was.

If you were fighting against such an individual, in the end…

What was left if not raw physical prowess?

The eagerness in Ryu reached a fever pitch and the canines in his mouth lengthened all on their own. Maybe he would have even released an almost feral growl if not for the fact that Xalvador and Balthar’s blades were now truly upon him.

He moved.

There was only one thing on Ryu’s mind.

Solara wasn’t the only one that could show off.

Ryu took a step back, his arms dancing.

CHI. CHI.

He parried their blades and then took another step back, and then another.

From an outsider’s perspective, it looked as though he was being entirely overwhelmed. But Xalvador and Balthar felt that something was off.

This wasn’t the first time Ryu had been beaten and battered. But this time, he was taking one calm step after another rather than being sent flying and spurting up blood.

The difference was palpable.

Was it because of the Sword Saber Soul method? Was the difference really that great? Or—

Their pupils constricted.

Sword and Saber Qi rolled through the air, forming intricate lines. It was so subtle that it was nigh undetectable. The only reason they sensed it at all was because Xalvador was a master of the sword and Balthar was able to sense it through their connection.

What was happening?

The weapon qi didn’t seem like it was very dangerous at all. In fact, they were mostly wrapping around Ryu alone, so what exactly was happening?

Ryu suddenly became sharp and faster.

Formations formed of saber and sword qi so thin it was invisible to the naked eye and even Spiritual Quintessence formed in rapid succession. Every time he stabbed out, his blade would pass through one of them, suddenly explosively increasing their power.

He swept and weaved, his arms moving in an independent and yet interlinked dance. In that moment, he didn’t seem like he was injured in the slightest…

No, it was nothing more than a facade. If one placed the Ryu of hours ago with the Ryu of now, there was an obvious gap in just how fast the two were moving.

This Ryu was much slower, much more labored in his movement.

And yet, he was moving so fluidly, so gracefully, with such elegance that it didn’t seem as though he was struggling at all.

He had completely eliminated the jerkiness of the Phoenix Princess’ weapon style, truly made it his own. There didn’t seem to be any transition between sword and saber at all, and when they swept forward, they almost encompassed the entire world.

They felt a fire coming from Ryu’s Dao Heart right this moment that made them realize they had never truly felt the depth of it until this moment. No one had been able to stoke that flame. Not even the Dao Gods Ryu knew were hiding in the shadows.

Not once in his life did Ryu ever feel like he had a true rival.

His blades clashed against Balthar’s spear blade, an eruption of power descending. The formations slapped into one and Balthar felt as though he was meeting a dozen powerful strikes at once instead of just one.

He buckled to a single knee, struggling to keep his spear above him and stop Ryu from severing his neck cleanly from his shoulders.

At the same time, as though he had two brains in his arms, Ryu’s blade flickered against Xalvador’s arm; one blade was heavy and strong, the other soft and gentle.

He met Xalvador’s speed with three quick strikes of his own, the very tips of their weapons colliding in the air thrice in quick succession.

Xalvador felt himself neutralized and he needed a moment to gather himself for another attack.

Ryu needed no such thing.

The fourth was already coming.

In truth, Ryu’s own momentum was already dead in the water as well. However, an invisible sword formation took shape, gathering up his dispersed strength and recentering it.

His wrist twisted in a fourth thrust, this time just barely missing the grazing tip of Xalvador’s sword and skimming against the length of its bottom.

The curl of his wrist sent it flicking upward.

Xalvador had no strength in his arm and he almost lost grip of his sword entirely. He couldn’t even react before the blade slipped into his ribcage, sliding in an infinitesimally tiny space between his heart and lungs.

A searing pain racked him from top to bottom.

“I really do want to kill you,” Ryu said with that wild grin on his face. “But if I do that, who will my father kill? You should know not to overestimate yourself. Who do you think you are?”

Ryu’s wrist vibrated and Xalvador was sent flying… unfortunately, not before a series of sword and saber qi imprinted themselves into his chest.

Xalvador’s eyes widened, a fury coursing through his body.

He felt it immediately.

He had no ability to control his lower half any longer. Ryu had somehow made him impotent.

“RYU TATSUYA!”

“You, however,” Ryu continued with the same grin, his blade still firmly pressing down on Balthar’s spear. “What purpose do you serve at all?”

Ryu’s second sword, now free of Xalvador, pierced forward. But, unexpectedly, not toward Balthar. Instead, it looked like Ryu was aiming right at empty space, and his attack was almost too gentle.

But that was because he wasn’t thrusting at all. He was picking something up. The undetectable chain between Balthar and Xalvador.

“I could have severed this the moment you exposed yourself. But where would the fun be in that?”

Ryu’s grin turned to Solara as he lopped Balthar’s head into the skies.

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